April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!

[Tanichca]

 

[Loghousemom]

Does anyone know of a way to stop chicks pecking each other, they have a red heat lamp, there are only two of them one hatched yesterday morning and the other one hatch this morning so about a day between them, i tried putting the younger one in the brooder as he had fluffed up but his bro/sis seems very determined to peck the eyes out of this new toy it got so bad that i had to separate them.

I would keep them separate until the picked on one is up and moving around. Then make sure they have enough space. I learned with my first batch of chicks sometimes there is one who just needs more space. I actually took to separating the instigator in these situations... Then as they grow I keep watch. If the bully continues into adulthood, (which I never had happen) but they would be dinner.

One of my babies randomly died... No reason why, the temp in the brooder is perfect and the other chicks are active and vocal and 100% normal.

Two other babies hatched, no new pips as of yet.

Was this one eating and drinking well? When did it hatch?

Just went into lockdown! Whoo hoo! I decided to start a little bit early (about half a day) just to make sure I had enough time to get things right.

I have the Farm Innovator 4200 which has been pretty good so far but once I took the turner out I noticed the metal frame below is really cheap junk. It is rolling up at the corners and popping up at random. Ugh. I tried maneuvering it and so far it is ok but I'm afraid it well pop up and cause the eggs to slam into each other.

The other thing is that the wells down below are SMALL. And nearly impossible to see and fill easily. I didn't have any new unused sponges so I put in a couple new sanitary pads and soaked those as well as filled the wells up. Watched and waited and I'm having one heck of a time getting the heat back up even though I never adjusted the knob and have had no problems with heat up until now. But it just won't go back up so I keep adjusting the knob and watching.

As for the water, well I couldn't get the humidity to go past 50% so I kept adding more, slowly, using a plastic straw inserted in one if the vent holes, and slowly saturating the pads. No increase in humidity. An hour went by so I added more. Suddenly I hear water running out the bottom. Ugh. So the pads are SOAKED, the wells are filled and still not a very high humidity. I took a few out momentarily and put 2 more pads down below but did not saturate them, i just want them to soak up the excess that was running out the bottom. I also put a towel under the incubator.

Still, almost another half hour has gone by and I tried putting one of the air plugs in and that helped a little to get the temp back up to 97 and I'm fidgeting with the control to get it a little higher and the humidity is only 64%.

What now? Do I keep one of the air plugs in? There is no other feasible place to add more water without it running out the bottom. I have approx 30/31 eggs in there. I figure since this is the first day of lockdown I have a little time to get this figured out, but how?

Congrats! I saw several good replys but I just wanted to add that I have the same incubator. the thermometer and hygrometer read way wrong on mine, so if you have not yet, try a different hygrometer. Another thing I did was place a plastic cover under the metal grate, directly below the vent hole. I can use a bendy straw to add water directly to the lid by sticking the straw through the vent hole.

65% is good, I was working with a farm innovators as well, I ended up putting a humidifier next to the incubator after starting with two dixie cups full of VERY WARM water to boost the initial humidity. And I added an overnight maxi pad that I wet and popped in the microwave for 20 sec, the 2nd day of lockdown because the humidity fell back to 50%. It was pretty good after that. Take a bit of advice from everyone else here that I did not follow: Don't take the chicks out until everyone is done hatching.... My last baby had to be wrapped with a warm wet paper towel and helped out a bit, and 1 little one had membrane stuck to its behind below the vent. I had to give it a bath! Anyhoo good luck!!!!!

I have the same model. I took out the mesh and turned it over and it fits better. After this hatch I will find some heavier mesh and cut it to fit to replace this one. I also covered it with the mesh shelf lining. All in all I had no problem with temperature. What humidity are you trying to maintain for lockdown.? I have 60% with just a wet sponge. Should mine be higher? Tomorrow is hatch day. I am using a syringe with no needle to put water into the front vent as needed.

It is nice to see so many people using this incubator!

Yay! I am thinking about quail for my next hatch. Do you use them for eggs, meat and/or both? We cannot have a lot of chickens in my city so I was thinking quail would be a better option for a meat bird but, they are so cute...

I candled my Lav. and blue Ameraucunas and surprise, SURPRISE THEY ARE ALIVE! 1 blood ring and one questionable but, that means 9 obviously viable eggs. Some one had mentioned candling from the top and OMGoodness, you can really see better! I had all but given up because the post office did their best to derail me. Too happy because the birds these eggs came from are just gorgeous!!!

And as always HAPPY HATCHING MY FRIENDS!!!!

I want some of those birds too! Where did you get your eggs? I am watching eggs for sale for a while longer as my incubator is full for a while.

 

[Tanichca]

The baby was about eight hours old, and had drunk some water. He was just... Dead. :/

 

[Member 151789]

Hi guys,

I have yet another question.....so I just paid a giant jar or apple butter and 15 egg cartons for a broody hen to sit on my other eggs, but when we moved her she stopped brooding! I gave her a comfy nest box with her eggs, lots of bedding, and warm, thick walls. She sleeps in it at night with her wings spread out over the eggs, but today(her first day in the enclosure) she was up and about the whole day, trying to find a place to escape. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to settle in and sit on the eggs? Please, please reply

Thanks
Andrea

Edited for spelling

 

[Loghousemom]

Did you try making her nest. Darker and quiet? Did you ask how long she had been broody?

 

[Partyfowl]

Hi guys,

I have yet another question.....so I just paid a giant jar or apple butter and 15 egg cartons for a broody hen to sit on my other eggs, but when we moved her she stopped brooding! I gave her a comfy nest box with her eggs, lots of bedding, and warm, thick walls. She sleeps in it at night with her wings spread out over the eggs, but today(her first day in the enclosure) she was up and about the whole day, trying to find a place to escape. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to settle in and sit on the eggs? Please, please reply

Thanks
Andrea

Edited for spelling

I have found that it is extremely beneficial to move the nesting material she was sitting on to begin with. And also move her at night. You may have done this. But just giving my 2 cents.

 

[Partyfowl]

Hi guys,

....so I just paid a giant jar or apple butter and 15 egg cartons for a broody hen to sit on my other eggs,

Edited for spelling

Oh and I Love this!!!

 

[minihorse927]

My broody hatched her 2 eggs out! She even successfully managed to get them out of a 55 gallon barrel that I use as a trash can in my horse barn. It was full and aparently she decided that it was a good place to sit. Here's some babies!

 

[Velvet Sparrow]

Just did the final turn for Saturday's hatch and moved the 15 eggs to the hatching rack (a fancy way of saying 'bottom of the incubator'). They all look great and are on track, except for two that may be late quitters--#1, a Polish egg from my egg trade and #14, a d'Uccle egg from our flock. I'm going to leave these two in just in case they are merely late bloomers.

When I did the final candling tonight had several chicks squirm in irritation, and saw a lil' beak.

 

[oesdog]

One of my babies randomly died... No reason why, the temp in the brooder is perfect and the other chicks are active and vocal and 100% normal.

Two other babies hatched, no new pips as of yet.

Sorry to hear about that - Though sometimes they have heart issues that we can;t always see and simply Fail to thrive. Don;t feel bad most of us lose some chicks. Last time one of mine was hatched with it's guts on the outside and DH had to dispatch it. I just think it is amazing anything gets out of the shells and some of the sizes of chicks that emerge from the smallest of shells is quite miraculas indeed.

Oes